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Americans: Are you going to vote third party or refuse to vote at all?

I've been debating to myself whether or not voting for a third party candidate (Either PSL's de la Cruz or Green's West, regardless of my criticisms for both) would be the most "effective" use of my time in election season this year. The argument for "not" is that maybe voting at all is bad because it legitimizes this system, even if a third party candidate getting a record turnout would grab more attention (and piss off Blue MAGA cultists) than simply not going since it's not like abysmal turnouts, even by this country's historical standards, are newsworthy at this point. So I guess I have to ask how you people rationalize voting or not this year?

I fully understand that this is more symbolic than anything else and won't materially affect change for a while but it's still something to think about.

113 comments
  • Voted PSL in 2020. Will probably do so again, but might consider someone like Dr. Cornel West if they have significant momentum and aren't cringeposting the whole election. Downballot it's all write-ins for dead revolutionaries. I sure as hell am not casting a vote for Gottheimer.

    Beyond shit like keeping Moms for Liberty out of the school board, this shit is pointless. Pretty much all I'm doing is punching one in for the ghost of Ho Chi Mihn out of spite.

  • i've been voting third party in the general presidential slot since obozo's 2nd term run. it's hilarious. i mean, i'm already there making selections for school board seats, city council peeps, family court judges and heads of various state agencies-type shit anyway so the marginal cost of my time and effort of participation in the general prez b.s. is negligible. looking into the other races and their candidates is a far bigger hassle, even with the relatively efficient process i've cobbled together over the years.

    what i like to imagine is the blue maga crowd looking at the PSL+green numbers on the day of tabulation and being incensed at all us cranks and assholes for going through all the hullabaloo and pageantry only to spike the ball and rip a wet fart on their latest disappointing savior. the humor only increases when the red vs blue horse race is tight. the nerve of wasting a vote on somebody under 100 that isn't a genocidal sex predator! and if some bozo tries to say shit about it IRL, i just shrug and tell them i'll vote for a dem presidential candidate as soon as they stop nominating the biggest horses ass in the stable. it's a low bar, but if they don't clear it they aren't trying.

  • i think the claim that voting "legitimizes" the system on a wider level is probably wrong. like, maybe when revolution was a live option, when there were insane people burning down army recruiter offices and sending bombs in the mail but now in the long dark winter of the class war, the system does not need our legitimacy. the popular mandate is not taken seriously. people at all levels engage with the political process as pure spectacle, no one believes they have real agency no matter the options they're given.

    the real strength of not voting is preserving your own spirit and awareness that we can still smash the shell of the egg and be born. It's refusing to accept into yourself the poison that is faith in a god that hates you.

    • You can vote without that faith. The same way you play a game at the fair even though you know it’s probably rigged. Just for the fun. And maybe you get lucky and get a big stuffed Teddy bear.

      • I play games at the fair so that my partner (the Democratic party) knows I really do have money and I'm choosing to use it to play a game instead of giving it to them.

        Also so that I can see how popular that game really is. I think I might be breaking the bounds of this metaphors usefulness lol

  • Either West or the PSL candidate depending on who’s on the ballot. I never thought the “voting at all only legitimizes the system” argument was valid because it makes the false assumption that TPTB are dependent on voter turnout to legitimize the system. The turnout could be twenty percent, they’d still push a “shining beacon of democracy” message and the consent will be manufactured.

    Now I know there’s zero chance a third party candidate will win, but I’ve noticed that non-voters don’t even get discussed in the narrative. They may demonize third party voters, but at least they talk about them.

  • My vote is purely symbolic in a solid blue state so I'm just going to vote PSL. If the only thing I'm changing is the vibes then I might as well have them be socialist ones

  • I will vote 3rd party, probably for the

    if they're on the ballot again in my state. Doesn't do much except as a weak act of protest. The Democrats can't guilt me into voting for Biden, considering that their neglect of the state party turned my swing state of Florida into a solid red one. That and all the chuds moving here from rural New York. If you're in a similar situation in the presidential race, vote for the person you feel best aligns with your values, knowing that it is a minor act of protest that has no real bearing on anything.

    Congressional and state elections go nowhere in Florida, especially where I am. The ballot initiatives are the only important thing that voting might change. Abortion should be on it this year and I hope they can expand reproductive rights in my state.

  • In all honesty, I'll probably forget about it and not vote. But if I do vote, there isn't a chance in hell it'll be for Biden. PSL it is for me again

  • I'm writing in Xi Jinping with a massive network of criminal voter fraud aficionados, we estimate we should be able to get him enough delegates to begin the ground invasion (yes, that's how it works)

  • I don't think there's any harm in voting third party. Turnouts rates are already abysmal and nobody seems to care at all, they're just entirely ignored. But voting for a third party that cares a bit at least puts it in the record that some people care, and though very unlikely, might actually lead to them wielding some minor influence for good.

  • I'm voting for Afroman; if he drops out, probably de la Cruz. This vote never goes to dems again afaic; I'm not voting for a segregationist bleach demon who is directly in the middle of the commission of genocide, or anyone who ever backed or uplifted him for that matter.

  • I feel like voting third party or writing in sends a clear message of "fuck you, this is who I'd rather have."

    However not voting pisses off libs more and is the funnier option.

    If you vote third party they can't just write voters off as being too lazy to vote though. I can imagine them making compulsory voting a hot button issue if Trump wins. Mind you, they'll just find an excuse no matter how it happens

  • If my lack of vote can destroy the US, then it's my obligation not to vote. However, if the vote of a single election cycle can destroy a country, then it has already proven itself a failure, and its destruction is an inevitable formality.

    Lesser evil is still evil, reducing harm is not harm reduction, and it has always been the responsibility of politicians to earn the votes of their constituency. The DNC isn't taking the election seriously, so why should I?

  • I’m going to organize the beautiful boaters to create a secessionist navy and help Texas secede and Donald trump be president of Texas after he loses and claims the election was rigged.

    Then laugh at the stupidest Civil war in history.

  • I don't vote because I don't want to have to deal with getting called for jury duty and having to try to get out of it, but also because it literally does not matter or change anything. I'd write in Xi Jinping just for the shits and giggles if I could.

  • I'm in a state where a vote for Biden wouldn't do anything. Voting for Dems locally because as t a state level, we have the dynamics Dems think are federal. State Republicans are so evil out here that voting for the lesser evil is the smart thing to do.

  • i moved states a year into biden's term, so i didnt bother registering to vote. not gonna vote for him again, probably never gonna vote for anyone right of bernie. maybe ill do a protest vote in 2028. de la riva will probably run for the 73rd time

113 comments